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(No Model.) 3 shegts sheet 1; S. P. MAYO G. A. PEPLE. APPARATUS FOR DRYING, COOLING, AND ORDERING TOBACCO.

No. 497,586. Patented May 16, 1893.

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A (No Model.)

No. 497,586. Patented May 16, 18931. I

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIQE.

SAMUEL P. MAYO AND GUSTAVUS A. PEPLE, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, AS-

SIGNORS TO THE MAYO TOBACCO DRYING AND ORDERING COMPANY, OF

SAME PLACE.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING, COOLING, AND ORDERING TOBACCO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 497,586, dated May 16, 1893.

Application filed May 12, 1892. Serial No; 432,794. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, SAMUEL P. MAYO and GUSTAVUS A. PEPLE, of-Richmond, in the county of Henrico and State of Virginia, have LII invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for and Methods of Drying, Cooling, and Ordering Tobacco; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, to such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. v 1

Our invention relates to an improvement in apparatus for drying, cooling and ordering to- I 5 bacco, and it consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts and a certain novel mode of operation which will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims. In the accompanying drawings, Figurel is aview in end elevation of a building show-- ing the ordering rooms or compartments ar ranged therein, the near or front walls of the latter being removed, and the pipes appearing in their preferred arrangement. Fig. 2 is a plan view. Fig. 3'isa vertical sectional view taken at right angles to the section shown in Fig. l, and Fig. 4 is a detail in section of one of the pipes12.

0 A A represent a number of rooms or compartments, which may be of any desired shape or size or may be of the same or diiferentsizes. Any number of these maybe employed and we have shown six arranged in two rows, one

above the other and suitably supported in a frame or structure B which maybe constructed for the purpose of any size or height. several compartments are all preferably alike and therefore it is unnecessary to describe more than one. As we usually construct them there are two ceilings 1 and 2 separated sufficiently from each other to leave an air space 3 between them. The two ceilings are of the same length but the lower or innerone is narrower than the upper or outer one, and joining its edges are the inner side walls4,4, which extend down nearly to the floor of the compartment leaving air spaces 5, 5, between them and the outer side walls, which spaces communicate at their upper ends with air These spaces 3 between the ceilings, and at their lower ends 6,6, with the interior 7 of the room where the tobacco under treatment is placed.

The foregoing will give a general idea of the preferred form of rooms orcompartments in whichthe tobacco is treated. In addition to these rooms or co mpartments, a very necessary part of the invention consists in the pipes for supplying air to the rooms or compartments and for discharging it therefrom and the system of valves for regulating and controlling the course of this air whereby a certain number of the rooms or compartments may be thrown into or out of operation, and whereby the same rooms or compartments may be successively employed for drying, cooling and ordering the tobacco without requiring any intermediate manipulation or handling of the tobacco.

C represents the main hot air supply pipe.

This pipe leads from a suitable source of heatand the airis generally forced through it by means of a fan or blower. D is a moist air supply pipe generally for convenience located on the opposite side of 7 the series of compartments from pipe C. This pipe also leads from a suitable source of heat andthe air is forced through it by means of a fan. or blower.

We prefer to connect these pipes by means of one or more cross pipes 9 So and 10, according to the number of stories or series of compartments. At any rate as shown in Fig. 1 these pipes 9 and 10 cross opposite the compartments and from them a pair of branch pipes 11,11, enter each compartment,

they being located near the top of the compartments and at each side thereof and. extending from one end to the other. From each of these branch pipes a series of depending pipes l2, l2 reach nearly to the bottom of the 0 compartments. These depending pipes are closed at the lower ends and are provided with discharge openings 12, 12 through which the hot air or cool air or the moist air, as the case may be, is discharged into the compartm ents 9 5 and these discharge openings may be provided with air traces or guides. Suitable valves may be provided for opening or closing any number or all of these openings if desired to provide for a greater or less dis- Ico charge of hot, cool or moist air. Also valves or gates 13 and 14 are located in pipes O and D and in the cross-pipes 9 and 10 respectively for the purpose of shutting off the hot,

cool or the moist air, or of directing it to any one or more of the compartments. For instance, supposing tobacco has been placed in the three lower compartments and it is desired to dry it, the left hand valve 13 (see Fig. 1) is closed and all except the extreme right hand valve 14 in pipe 9 are opened. This right hand valve is closed. In this manner the hot air is directed to each of the lower compartments. Supposing it is desired to discharge it into the left hand one only, then the left hand valve 14 is opened andlthe one next to the right of it is closed. Supposing now on the other hand the drying is completed and moist air is required, the left hand valve 1A is closed, all the rest of the valves in pipe 9 are opened, and valve 13 in pipe D is closed. If it is desired for any purpose to keep hot air or moist air from any one intermediate compartment, this may be done by closing the valves in pipes 11, 1l,leading into the desired compartment.

The means for ventilating, and for removing the air from the interior of the compartments will now be described. It has already been explained that an air chamber is formed between the two walls and ceilings of each compartment and that these air chambers communicate at their lower ends with the interiors of the compartments. A pipe 16 preferably graduated extends the entire length of each air space 3 between the ceilings. Each of these pipes is provided with airducts 17, 17 on the lower sides which enter the lower ceiling 2, and through which the air from the upper portions of the rooms or compartments escapes into the graduated ventilating pipe. This ventilating pipe 16 is also furnished with openings along its sides in direct communication with the air in the space 3 for removing air from said chamber. Inside of the Ventilating pipe there is an arrangement of valves an approved construction of which is as follows :A rod 18 extends centrally through the pipe. Connected with this central rod are valves 19, 19, the latter being connected to the rod by spring arms which tend to keep the valves tight against the inner walls of the pipe. These valves are so arranged that they are all operated simultaneously, but also the arrangement is such that the ducts at the bottom are closed when the side openings are opened and vice versa, the object of which will be explained. The central rod 18 is preferably reciprocated by alever 20, or in any suitable manner. The ventilating pipe has a chimney 21 at one end for conducting off the air as fast as it enters the ventilating pipe and for creating a free circulation of air therein. The advantage of graduating or tapering the ventilating pipe is simply that by means of this formation,

the ventilation is made approximately uniform throughout the entire room and a uniform circulation of air is thereby produced, as the supply is at one end, the larger end only, but we desire it understood that this construction is not absolutely necessary.

The operation of this part of ourinvention is simple and is as follows: After the compartments have been filled with tobacco, which is to be dried, the gates a, a, over the openings 6, are opened and the ducts 17, 17. leading from ventilating pipes 16 are closed and at the same time the ducts leading into the space 3 are opened as before described, the hot air passing from the hot air supply pipe, into the cross branch 9 or 10, thence into pipes 11, 11, thence into pipes 12, 12 and is finally discharged into the compartments through openings 12 12, being directed upon the tobacco by the air tracers or guides above mentioned. Absorbing moisture from the tobacco, it sinks to the floor of the compartment, passes through the openings 6, 6, ti eace into the spaces 5, 5; thence into the space 3, passing thence into pipe 16 and thence up the chimney 21.

After the tobacco has been sufficiently dried it may be cooled as follows: The gates a, a, over the openings 6 are closed. The lower valves in the ventilating pipes are opened to allow the air from the top of the compartments to escape through the ducts 17, 17, and to be conducted ofl out of the rooms or compartments. Cold airis then blown in through the moist air supply pipe into the pipes 11, 11, thence into vertical pipes 12, 12, and thence into the room through the openings 12, 12; the proper changes having been made in the valves as described above (namely,the'changes necessary to cut olf the supply of hot air, and introduce the supply of cool air or moist air, as the case may be). The cool air blowing over the hot tobacco absorbs its heat and rises to the top of the room whence it passes through the ducts 17,17, and is conducted oil? as before described. After the tobacco has been cooled to the proper temperature, the moist air for the purpose of ordering the tobacco is introduced in the same manner as cool air and through the same supply pipe, but at an increased temperature; the gates a, a, remaining closed in order to prevent its escape from the bottom of the rooms or compartments and the ducts 17,17, remaining open to a suflicient extent to carry 01f any surplus heat and thus prevent the temperature in the rooms rising to too great a degree during the process of ordering. After the tobacco has been properly ordered in one or more compartments, such compartments may be cut off, as above described, and the tobacco removed and a fresh supply introduced without interfering with any part of the process which may be going on in any of the other compartments. In the moistening pipe a series of cloths 25 and 25 is arranged with spaces between them,

moist air supply pipe, preferably as shown in the drawings, or by means of a-connecting pipe between the hot air supply pipe and the moist air supply pipe at the source of heat.

By this arrangement of mechanism the compartments one and all or any number may be alternately provided with a dry and moist or cooled atmosphere and the tobacco may be dried, cooled and ordered in a continuous successive process without removal or rearrangement of the tobacco and the temperature and humidityof the air may be regulated at will.

Having fully described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a room or compartment having a double ceiling and double walls, and a communicating air space between said ceilings and walls, and the spaces between the two walls in communication with the interior of the room or compartment at or near the bottom, of a ventilating pipe in communication with the interior of the room or compartment and with the space between the ceilings and valves for the openings into the interior of the room, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with a room or compartment having a double ceiling and double walls, and a communicating air space between said ceilings and walls, and the spaces between the two walls in communication with the interior of the room or compartment at or near the bottom, of a ventilating pipe in communication with the interior of the room or compartment and with the space between the ceilings and valves for opening communication with the interior and opening communication with the air space or vice versa.

3. The combination with a room or compartment having double ceilings and walls and means of communication between the space formed between said ceilings and walls and the interior of the room or compartment, of hot air andmoist air pipes leading to the room or compartment, valves for shutting off the hot air or moist air, a ventilating pipe in communication with the interior of the room or compartment and the space between the ceilings and walls, and valves for simultaneously opening one set of communicating openings in the ventilating pipe and closing the others, substantially as set forth.

, 4:. The combination with a room or compartment having a double ceiling and double walls with an air space formed between the ceilings and between the walls, a ventilating pipe, said pipe having openings into the surrounding air space, and ducts extending through the inner ceiling, a rod extending through the pipe, and valves connected with the rod for controlling the openings in the pipe, said valves being arranged to simultaneously open one set of openings and close the other set, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination with one or more rooms or compartments, of hot air and moist air pipes in communication with each other and in communication with the said rooms or compartments, valves in these pipes, and moistening medium in the moist air pipe consisting of dampened cloths suitably sepa-' rated for the passage of air and means for wetting these cloths, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination with one or more rooms or .compartments having double ceilings and double walls, whereby air spaces are formed between said ceilings and walls, the side air spaces opening at their lower ends into the interior of the room or compartment, and valves for controlling these openings, of hot air and moist air pipes, means for heating and moistening the air in these pipes, valves in the hot air and moist air pipes, and ventilating pipe having openings whereby communication is had with the interior of the room or compartment and the space between the ceilings and walls and valves for controlling said openings, substantiallyas'set forth.

7. The combination with a room or compartment having double ceilings and walls, of pipes leading into the interior for supply-- ing air thereto, and ventilating pipe located in the space between the double ceiling, substantially as set forth.

8. The combination with one or more rooms or compartments, of hot air and moist air pipes connected together and in c0rnmun1-. cation with the room or rooms, and valves for controlling the passage of air to the room or rooms,substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed thisspecification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SAML. P. MAYO. GUSTAVUS A. PEPLE.

lVitnesses:

JOHN F. T. ANDERSON, H. B. OWEN.- 

